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Artwork

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Year:
Theme: Portrait
ID 6 (Ceroni 110)
Beatrice (Portrait de Béatrice Hastings)
1916
Alternate titles: "Au théâtre" Béatrice; Au Théâtre: Beatrice; Beatrice; Béatrice (Béatrice Hastings); Béatrice Hastings; Beatrice Hastings à la Toque; Beatrice Hastings con cappello; Bildnis Beatrice Hastings; La Signora Hastings; Portrait de Beatrice Hastings; Portrait de la Poetesse H.; Portrait de Mme Beatrice Hastings; Portrait de Mme Hastings à la toque; Portrait of Madame Beatrice Hastings; Ritratto della signora Hastings; Ritratto di Beatrice Hastings
Oil on canvas with newsprint
21 5/8 x 15 1/16 in. (54.9 x 38.2 cm)
Front, lower center: Modigliani; upper right: BEATRICE
Reverse not inscribed
Creation location: Paris
Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia (BF361)
Provenance
Galerie Paul Guillaume, Paris1
Albert C. Barnes, Merion, Pennsylvania (January 1925)2
1. Barbara Buckley, Simonetta Fraquelli, Nancy Ireson, and Annette King, eds., Modigliani Up Close. Exh. cat. (Philadelphia: The Barnes Foundation, 2022), 67.
2. Ibid.
Commentary

Beatrice Hastings was the pen name of Emily Alice Haigh (1879–1943), the English poet and writer. She was an established journalist in London, writing for The New Age, a journal that focused on art and politics.1 In 1914 she moved to Paris as the journal's correspondent and met Modigliani soon after her arrival. The two were romantically linked for approximately two years, and while their relationship was volatile—fueled by drugs and alcohol—it nevertheless provided a fertile ground for the artist's transition from sculpture to painting.2 Beatrice served as his model for numerous portraits, the stylistic range of which reveals his artistic experimentation from Pointillism to Cubism, including this portrait that incorporated newspaper collage.

Two photographs that were likely taken by Modigliani and the art dealer Paul Guillaume (1891–1934) around 1916 show each man sitting in turn in a chair in the artist's studio at 13, rue Ravignan, where this portrait of Beatrice Hastings can be seen hanging on the wall behind them.3 These photographs offer rare lifetime documentation of a work by the artist.

This may have been the portrait of Hastings that Guillaume included in the November 1916 Lyre et Palette exhibition, where it was titled Portrait de la Poetesse H, and possibly also the painting shown at Guillaume's gallery in December 1918, when it was simply titled Beatrice.4 

When it was shown at Galerie Bernheim-Jeune in Paris in 1922, it was listed as "Au Théatre, Béatrice."5 Hastings's elegant attire and the indication of what appears to be an upholstered banquette and a rust-colored velvet panel behind her at right indeed suggest the setting of a theater. This theory is further supported by the inclusion of a collaged newspaper clipping, which is visible in the 1916 photograph of the work, and has been identified as a listing of theatrical performances published in Le Monde on February 15, 1916.6

Dr. Albert C. Barnes (1872–1951) purchased his first Modigliani works in August 1922, buying two small drawings from Guillaume.7 By July of the following year, he had acquired nine paintings and a stone head, making him the most significant collector of the artist's work in the United States at that time. Today, the Barnes Foundation owns twelve paintings, which makes it one of the largest public Modigliani collection in the world.8

Canvas information
Technical analysis of the painting revealed that the canvas appears to have been reused, although the original composition and artist are unknown.9 The painting's ground color was identified as white in the 2022 exhibition catalogue for Modigliani Up Close.10

For more on the 1916 and 1918 exhibitions see the essays published in Spotlight: “Première Exposition,” Lyre et Palette and "Peintres d'aujourd'hui."

  1. Barbara Buckley and Simonetta Fraquelli, "Beatrice," in Barbara Buckley, Simonetta Fraquelli, Nancy Ireson, and Annette King, eds., Modigliani Up Close. Exh. cat. (Philadelphia: The Barnes Foundation, 2022), 64.
  2. Kathleen Brunner, "Biographies of Modigliani's Models: Beatrice Hastings," in Simonetta Fraquelli and Norman Rosenthal, eds., Modigliani and his Models. Exh. cat. (London: The Royal Academy of Arts, 2006), 150.
  3. The photographs are in the collection of the Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris and are reproduced in Simonetta Fraquelli and Cécile Girardeau, eds. Modigliani: A Painter and His Art Dealer. Exh. cat. (Paris: Musée de l'Orangerie with Flammarion, 2023), Front portfolio, figs. 1 and 5.
  4. At this time, Guillaume is known to have owned a second portrait of Hastings (Ceroni 109), which is also a possibility, however, only the portrait at the Barnes Foundation is inscribed with her name.
  5. Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, Modigliani. Exh. cat. (February 7–21, 1922), no. 21.
  6. Barbara Buckley and Simonetta Fraquelli, "Beatrice," in Barbara Buckley, Simonetta Fraquelli, Nancy Ireson, and Annette King, eds., Modigliani Up Close. Exh. cat. (Philadelphia: The Barnes Foundation, 2022), 64. This is the only known Modigliani painting that incorporates newspaper clippings. Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and Juan Gris incorporated newspaper into their Cubist collages between 1912 and 1914.
  7. The drawings are: Raimondo, 1915, 8 7/16 x 5 1/16 in. (21.4 x 12.9 cm; BF634) and BAIRON, 1915, 7 x 4 in. (17.8 x 10.2 cm; BF635).
  8. The Chester Dale Collection at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., also has twelve paintings, one of which is not included in Ceroni's 1970 catalogue.
  9. Buckley and Fraquelli (2022), op. cit, 66.
  10. Ibid.
Exhibitions
1916 Paris possibly
Lyre et Palette, Paris, 1re exposition: Kisling, Matisse, Modigliani, Ortiz de Zarate, Picasso, et Sculptures négres, November 19–December 5, 1916, no. 19, as Portrait de la Poetesse H.
1918 Paris probably
Galerie Paul Guillaume, Paris, Peintres d’aujourd’hui, December 15–23, 1918, no. 27, as Béatrice.
1920a Paris probably
Galerie Devambez, Paris, Exposition de Peinture Moderne, January 27–February 12, 1920, no. 62, as Beatrice.
1922 Paris
Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, Modigliani, February 7–21, 1922, no. 21, as "Au théâtre" Béatrice.
Published References
Les Arts à Paris 1918 probably
"'Peintres d'Aujourd'hui' (exhibition checklist)." Les Arts à Paris: Actualités critiques et littéraires des arts et de la curiosité 1, no. 3 (December 15, 1918), no. 27, as Béatrice.
Benvenuto 1920 possibly
Benvenuto. "Flâneries d'un Artiste: VIII Mars 1920." La Gerbe: revue mensuelle: arts, sciences, littérature, philosophe… (Paris) 8 (March 1920), mentioned p. 190, as Béatrice.
Saunier 1922
Saunier, Charles. "Les Arts." L'Europe nouvelle (Paris) 5, no. 8 (February 25, 1922), mentioned p. 243, as "Au théâtre" Béatrice.
Pfannstiel 1929
Pfannstiel, Arthur. Modigliani: catalogue présumé. Paris: Éditions Marcel Seheur, 1929. Monograph, Catalogue pp. 10–11 as Portrait de Mme Hastings à la toque; ill. in b/w, n.p. (opp. p. 19), as Portrait de Mme Beatrice Hastings.
Poligono 1930
"[Reproductions]." Poligono: Rivista Mensile d'Arte (Milan) IV, no. IV (February 1930), ill. in b/w, p. 191, as Ritratto di Beatrice Hastings, dated 1918.
Taguchi 1932
Taguchi, Shogo. Modigliani. Tokyo: Atelier-sha, 1932. Monograph, no. 1, ill. in b/w, as Portrait de Mme Beatrice Hastings.
Scheiwiller 1935
Scheiwiller, Giovanni. Amedeo Modigliani. Milan: Ulrico Hoepli Editore, 1935. Monograph, pl. II, ill. in b/w, as La Signora Hastings.
Barnes and de Mazia 1939
Barnes, Albert C. and Violette de Mazia. The Art of Cézanne. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co. in association with The Barnes Foundation Press, Merion, PA, 1939, Catalogue Data no. 359, p. 434, as Beatrice, Barnes Foundation, no. 361, p. 141.
Franchi 1944
Franchi, Raffaello. Modigliani. Florence: Centro Italiano Editoriale Librario, 1944. Monograph, no. 5, ill. in b/w, as Ritratto della signora Hastings.
Franchi 1946
Franchi, Raffaello. Modigliani. Florence: Arnaud, 1946. Monograph, pl. VI, ill. in b/w, as Ritratto della signora Hastings.
Jedlicka 1952
Jedlicka, Gotthard. Modigliani: 1884–1920. Erlenbach-Zurich, Switzerland: Eugen Rentsch Verlag, 1952. Monograph, no. 13, ill. in b/w, as Bildnis Beatrice Hastings.
San Lazzaro 1953
San Lazzaro, Gualtieri di. Modigliani. Paris: Les Éditions du Chêne, 1953. Monograph, no. 26, ill. in b/w, p. 6, as Béatrice Hastings.
Pfannstiel 1956
Pfannstiel, Arthur. Modigliani et son œuvre. Paris: Bibliotèque des Arts, 1956. Monograph, no. 71, as Portrait de Mme Hastings à la toque.
Ceroni 1958
Ceroni, Ambrogio. Amedeo Modigliani: Peintre. Milan: Edizioni del milione, 1958. Monograph, no. 59, ill. in b/w, as Béatrice (Béatrice Hastings).
Ceroni 1970
Ceroni, Ambrogio. I dipinti di Modigliani. Milan: Rizzoli Editore, 1970. Monograph, no. 110, ill. in b/w, p. 93, as Beatrice Hastings con cappello.
Model
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Record last updated April 1, 2026. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Modigliani Initiative. "Beatrice (Portrait de Béatrice Hastings), 1916 (ID 6)." In Amedeo Modigliani Digital Catalogue. catalogue.modigliani-initiative.org/catalogue/entry.php?SystemID=249 (accessed on May 11, 2026).